Hi I have had an ongoing battle with Lantern (motormile) trying to chase for an alleged Lending Stream Debt. I have provided them with a statement from Lending Stream showing a £0 balance outstanding which they have ignored and i am now receiving threat emails from Wilkin Chapman's "Lantern Team" saying they can't discuss by email due to data protection. I have sent them the same statement i have sent to Lantern and i'm certainly not calling them. Is there a templated response to an email? This is what they sent me "Good morning Thank you for your e-mail, we can confirm that for Data Protection reasons we are unable to discuss details of the account by e-mail without verification that you are the account holder. Please contact us on 01472 253965 or please respond confirming your full name, the first line of your address, postcode and your date of birth for confirmation. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and look forward to hearing from you within seven days. Yours faithfully"

Long story - old outstanding debt with Lending Stream got sold to Asset who wanted to take me to court. I defended and was referred to mediation which I thought was successful. I have been religiously paying the amounts agreed since last August and now I am emailed by their 'accounts' department stating that they have not received my payment. The reference number also does not correspond to that of the original agreement. I have sent them PDF proof that I have made the payment and they advised me to contact their litigation team with the evidence. The email address they gave me did not work. I really don't want to speak to them. Any advice please? I am terrified that they will say I have broken the mediation agreement and proceed to a CCJ. I am not able to go to court due to ill health. I can't pay the whole amount either.

hi im new on here i could do with some help regarding brighthouse my marridge broke down 2 years ago and im not proud to say i had to use brighthouse for a tv fridge and washing machine my weekly payments are £48.00 i took out the tv and washing machine in june 2016 and the fridge november 2016 i kept up with payments until september this year when my hours at work were cut by 50 hours pm i contacted my store but they were very rude and would not lower my payments as a result i am constantly in arrears when i phone to make payment there is always a extra 12.00 added today i had to pay 61.00 i have the osc and other insurance can i claim this back as i suffer with anxiety and the constant texts calls and visits every week are making me stressed thankyou.

Apologies that this is a long post. This is my first time on any kind of forum. I have tried to summarise but my 2 1/2 year dispute with Npower over inncorrect bills been a complicated and very distressing process. I will be very grateful indeed for any advice on how to proceed legally through the Small Claims Court... We moved into a flat in Sept 2013 and when I called to give Npower the opening meter readings I asked to confirm what meter and tariff we were on. I was told it was an Economy 10 meter and noted down from the conversation that there were 3 cables which would give a Day rate, a Night rate and a Heating rate for the 3 night storage heaters with timings for when these rates would operate. You had to press a button on the meter several times to get the readings and I gave the 3 readings as they appeared on the screens. Npower took Actual readings for these 3 rates in Nov 13 and I gave more readings in May 14 at which point I started the complaints process because we had still not had a bill. I received letters with an account number from the complaints department and finally a letter in July 2014 saying because they could not resolve my complaint about not receiving a bill I could go to the Ombudsman. At the end of July I receive a letter with the same account number but this time addressed to the occupier saying that because of problems closing the account the balance would be written off. Followed a week later by the First bill for £366, in my name but with a different account number. In Sept 14 I call to try and figure out what is going on and am told that the first account number I’d received on complaint letters was actually the previous tennant’s but because of the confusion the balance (now £457) would be written off as per the write off letter. I give meter readings – this time 4 readings show on the meter instead of 3. That same day a bill is generated for the heat rate for £868. It is based on an estimated opening meter reading for heat. I am told again a week later on the telephone that my account would be credited to zero - clearing balance of £868 as per write off letter and to disregard any more bills/reminders and to wait during process. In Nov 14 I call again and am given apologies for distressing letters & assured case is with correct back office team. Promised that a correct bill should arrive soon showing the cleared balance of £868.72 and they had correct meter readings so a new bill would generated. I then receive a bill for £1,433, followed by ‘Our right to enter your home’ letter – with an outstanding balance £976. In December 2014 after numerous complaint calls I am given a new complaint reference number and assured collections will stop. In Jan 15 I receive a complaint deadlock letter refusing to remove the balance as promised and referring me to Ombudsman and I begin the Enquiry process. In Feb 15 I give new meter readings and receive a bill for £1481 - Tariff: Standard SC ROB Heatwise 1. I pay £505 for accurate energy usage calculated using my correct meter readings between Nov 14 and Feb 15 (leaving the disputed £976). At the end of Feb the Ombudsman says Npower incorrectly offered to write off the Sept 14 bill for £868 and that I should be given a £25 goodwill payment for the misinformation but that the outstanding balance remained. I did not agree with the Ombudsman proposal and it was reviewed in March 15. I complain that the meter reading Npower used to calculate the opening heat rate was an estimate because it had not been showing on the meter. As this was not part of the original complaint to the Ombudsman they advise me to contact Npower directly. I contacted Npower who agree to work out an accurate opening meter reading but I did not accept the Ombudsman proposal as I still hadn’t had an accurate bill and felt they had not helped resolve my issue with Npower. In April 15 we move out of the property and I give final meter readings and new address. On 1st May 15 they send: An amended bill to our old address for £1318. A letter saying because I’d rejected Ombudsman remedy my complaint has been closed thus exhausting the complaints process and balance is £1362. And a Final Bill for £1452 (the Tariff has now changed to Standard SC ROB 7 Hour Weekend Off-Peak) I call to complain about tariff changing and am told they've re-opened case though they believe bill is correct. Throughout May and June they send another Amended bill, numerous complaint reference letters, and Final demand and Act now to avoid court letters – all to the old address. I email the CEO disputing the Historic debt and Amended Bill and request again that our address be updated and debt recovery stopped. The complaint is logged and I’m given a new reference number. In July I start to get calls from Debt Managers Services attempting to recover a debt of £1,612. In August I receive 5 more amended bills each for a different amount. Throughout Sept and Oct I receive letters from Debt Managers saying my account is on hold while they await instruction from Npower. In January 16 I receive a letter from Npower with a ‘Notice of intention to file a default on your credit file’. Outstanding balance £1452. In February I email complaining that my complaints have not been handled properly and ask about the compensation arrangements Npower agreed with Ofgem. Executive Complaints reply to say I have exhausted thier complaints process and they will not look to raise a new complaint in relation to this query and refer me to their Legal Team. I point out that the Ombudsman instructed me to re-contact Npower to recalculate opening meter reading to which they had agreed. In March 16 Executive Complaints then reply with an incorrect opening meter recalculation (they use accurate winter heat readings to calculate an average daily usage and apply it to 497 days i.e saying we’d use the same heat in summer as in winter!) and advise me again to proceed legally. Moorcroft Debt Recovery begin pursuing the debt and in desperation to resolve this I contact the Citizens Advice Extra Help Unit, who help vulnerable consumers, and they agree to mediate with Npower on my behalf. They challenge Npower throughout March and April but are told Npower's final position was that they would not be opening the case and referred me back to Ombudsman or to take legal action. The amended bills – Falsifying meter readings and placing us on the wrong tariff Having now examined the 5 amended bills of Aug 15 I can see that they have previously tried to ‘re-estimate the bill’ by falsifying meter readings - changing accurate readings into estimates to justify their original estimated opening reading. All these estimates are entirely inaccurate suggesting that I have used thousands of heat units in summer periods when the night storage heaters were switched off. I am suspicious that NPower have chosen to amend the bills with estimates from May 2014 (instead of the 2013-14 winter prior to that when the disputed energy was apparently used) in order to avoid the back billing regulations. I have also asked repeatedly why the Bill that I paid in Feb 15 was cancelled, amended and then re-calculated at a higher unit rate for heat (7p per unit became 12p). No one has addressed this concern. Our tariff appears to have changed from what I understood to be the Economy 10 tariff: Standard SC ROB Heatwise 1 to Standard SC ROB 7 Hour Weekend Off-Peak. At no point did we ever ask to switch tariff or were we offered any explanation as to why the unit price and tariff had been changed, despite me asking on numerous occasions for clarification. Harassment and marking my credit file I have been threatened with court proceedings multiple times, they refuse to put a hold on their collections process so I am still having to deal with debt collections agencies, NPower may have shared data which will impact my credit record and they say this cannot be amended because they claim the outstanding balance is correct and remains payable. They now say I need to proceed legally. My time, stress and worry I have spent innumerable hours dealing with all of this, trying to decipher what has gone on, examining 15 bills, complaining by telephone and email, going through an Ombudsman enquiry that did not help to reach a resolution, and working with Citizens Advice, all of which equates to weeks worth of my time. I have had countless sleepless nights and shed many a tear worrying about everything and feeling bullied by this huge corporation who seem to operate so recklessly with no regard for how peoples lives are affected by this level of stress that they cause. And throughout this period we have a chronically sick child with a rare blood disorder who has been in and out of hospital and Great Ormond St Hospital. Our now 3 year old daughter was first admitted to hospital in a life threatening condition in Oct 14 and has since been admitted 10 times, which Npower have been aware of. I have had to take my energy away from caring for my child to dedicate to unraveling all of this mess and that is extraordinarily painful for me. I am now fully prepared to take legal action, although I have no idea how to do this and do not have any access to financial support or legal advice. I feel completely daunted by the task and almost cannot bear the stress and time of pursuing it further but it seems to be my only route forward. I want to seek damages to be remunerated for this utter failure to handle my complaints and to bill me accurately. NPower’s conduct is far from fair or transparent and does not meet their standards of conduct by a long way. I refuse to be victimized. I realize that this has been a long read and I really appreciate any advice that others can give for me to take this forward legally. Very best wishes D

On Wednesday, 4th Nov 15, a JobCentre Workcoach at Seven Kings Jobcentre, instigated a full scale row with me about my apparent job search failure, even though I applied for 33 vacancies for period 21/10/15 – 4/11/15 - so she's clearly insane and her judgement is off at best and worst she doesn't listen to reason nor pay attention to months of evidence. (This is my 2nd complaint against this particular Work Coach for bullying – the first complaint being the 10th September 2014) She battered me about why I hadn't secured interviews for the amount of jobs applied for, I explained that many job sites sold advert slots to recruitment agencies, and that many jobs aren't offered to me due to me being over qualified, and too old for entry-level posts. At precisely 12:40pm, she aggressively challenged me and said “If I'm so experienced, then I should be in work” - and she didnt mean it as a compliment either, she was goading me, doing her absolute best to wind me up, and she's clearly a lunatic of the highest order and unprofessional to boot. I mean, does she really think that repeatedly bashing out the same questions really helps motivate jobseekers or changes a job-market fluctuation situation that's completely out of my control – it doesn't. The 'Work Coach' also kept banging on about her 'job coach' credentials, she told me she was a qualified job coach (seems the majority of DWP staff do this too, but from what I've seen they don't have the skills/knowledge required to coach anyone) . Is the DWP sure they should be using self-appointed titles, as I thought their titles were Compliance/Customer/Client Advisor?? although the Work Coaches seems to think its fine to promote themselves and bully others.... (It seems the title of 'Work Coach' is an official title according to the DWP). She then turned to giving low-level CV tips, 'advising' that I should change it so its 'targeted'. Well, I've removed 4 positions to make it so – but this has now left a huge gap of 4 years employment that is tough to explain to interviewers, hmmm, great advice She then threatened to repeat the same pathetic questioning every time I attend my signing day, and I'm not being spoken to like that, nor will I stand for her ridiculous threats and told the Jobcentre, I will take this to the highest complaints level as this is the 2nd time these pathetic power games has occurred and the 3rd advisor complaint put forward by myself, although I couldn't be bothered to take it to the maximum complaints stage last time, but I will now.

Hi I have a problem with this outfit, Phoenix Commercial Collections. I have read up on them online and they seem to be a dishonest lot. I had a litigation case two years ago (unrelated) which cost me a lot of money and my personal finances eroded. I ended up with some council tax debt. I got everything sorted in my life end of 2015 and paid off various debts. I had £2051 owing on council tax, which I paid in full in late January 2016. I have a letter from the council dated 17th Feb that states my account is clear. In mid Feb I get a new, out of the blue letter from Phoenix saying that I owe said £2051 plus £75 enforcement. I ignored it as the amount was paid by that time. I get a few more letters and calls. I tell them to go away as there was no debt in my mind. Not just that but I have council correspondence stating the same. I have bank statements showing the amount as paid. Today an undesirable knocks on my door at 8.10 in a bright yellow jacket demanding £310 or they seize goods. They also interrupted an early meeting as I work from home, its also my trading address. I told them to get stuffed and they went away but saying they would return to take my belongings. Later I inspect my old letters from Phoenix and called them. They now state that : 1. The account was passed to them a few days before I paid the council in full. I suspect them of backdating but can't confirm. All I know is that I had settled the bill before I ever heard of these Phoenix guys. 2. They say I still owe money to the council at first but now accept that I do not. I think they backdated a letter to pursue fees, I'll never prove that though. 3. They have upped the bill to £310 to cover costs of visiting my home and enforcement. Except I didn't invite them and they are enforcing a non debt. Also my online research suggests that this is a common bailiff [problem] when the principle debt is paid and illegal, section 58. At best they are trying to enforce and levy £235 on a £75 compliance fee, that due to the dates on letters I also dispute. So the rude woman at the door didn't bother me too much besides quoting lots of liability order legalise at me, a quick get lost and she was gone. I have since written to Phoenix instructing them not to attend again without prior appointment. Thing is firms like this are parasitic in nature and they will probably come back. They are trying to use the original council liability order as their muscle. However that debt is clear (in writing ) before I ever heard of Phoenix. That they are trying to levy another £235 and my research lists this as a common [problem] makes me question their honesty and integrity. They think I owe them £75 (I say not) and are adding further enforcement costs to that. It would be easy to pay to go away but I don't see why I should line their pockets. Advice would be welcomed. Chris

Hello, I'm new to the forum and would like advice and / or to hear from anyone else who has gone through similar to myself, or even legal help/advice. I have been suffering sex discrimination in the form of harassment for quite some time now, its been protracted but constant over the last 3 years since I became a part time worker in a team of all male colleagues. I work in male dominated environment of construction and as the only female , part time worker in the team I feel harassed and victimised. Now, the harassment and discrimination does not come from my male counterparts but from a female Manager who has over the last year outcast me and been generally hostile towards me. She states in public and openly in team meetings 'my men' as in relation to the team and another quote of ''I have asked for more men" ( in terms of recruitment. She has glared at me to the point of making me feel extremely uncomfortable in a team meeting when she single me out for 'talking' whilst another Manager staged a presentation. I was not the only one talking, it was just an overspill of chat basically when there was a discussion with Manager on stage , she singled me out, she even rang my Manager to rebuke me for this 'talking' offence, none of my other 'male ' colleagues were reprimanded. I have been questioned for been 10 minutes late to a meeting when 3 other male colleagues have walked in after me and even later, again only I am reprimanded. I can not understand why I am singled out, again on this occasion my Manager stated she had requested that he pull me about this to the exclusion of all others. I also asked one of the male team members and confirmed , No, not a mention to him, he was even later than I was! I am now at a stage where her vendetta instigated a 'fact find' with alleged misuse of company time as the offence. The slightest minute I am not accountable for on the tracker on my vehicle she is on the case. My Manager told me he did not want to undertake this disciplinary but she was pressuring him to do it, he felt uncomfortable about it , he said , he was happy with my performance to date but his Manager was keen to pursue me and take this down the formal route. Now, my male colleagues , if any issues are raised about their performance are dealt with casually and a general chat, when it is me , everything escalates to been a formal issue. I went off on sick leave last October as the ongoing pressure of the fact find re-ignited depression and anxiety (I suffered post natal depression with both children), I have never been off sick regards this issue , the pressure and interrogation pushed me back into a depressive state, suffering panic attacks and insomnia from worry. I am still employed by the company. Just to add, I also had pregnancy discrimination against me in 2013 with my 2nd child for which I raised a grievance and it was upheld, this was against my former Manager who did not like the fact I got a flexible working arrangement after my first born, he did a risk assessment without me and said I was not fit to do my job as I was pregnant and my role was much too dangerous for a pregnant woman, despite in my previous pregnancy doing the same job right into my 3rd trimester. I have raised a grievance now against the Senior Manager , bringing to the forefront the comments , the male terminology constantly used in team meetings, the exclusion of all others in rebuking me about been late, the intimidating look for 'talking' . I might add, I did confront this Manager last year and she did apologise for calling the whole team 'men' , although she has still continued with this type of language and had made me feel humiliated and alienated from my team. I would welcome any input, do I have a good case here? I genuinely feel very aggrieved. They have just asked me if I will consider a settlement whilst I am still waiting for a result from the grievance meeting I attended last week. I sense they want to make this go away...and not make a decision on the grievance ? I'm very stressed and concerned, after all, I am losing my job here so I want to be compensated correctly. The amount mentioned was not even a years pay , thats not enough for the ordeal I have suffered, and with all the other associated heads of liability, loss of earnings, frozen pension, stigma of not been re-employable , personal injury etc.. I don't want to undersell myself and regret it later if I do not take this to a tribunal. Any help / thoughts etc.. are really appreciated , Thanks

Hi all! I have been reading through alot of threads to gain info. We have a problem with a builder, who was supposed to do approx £27k of work on our house. I will keep details sketchy as I don't want to identify ourselves. he was a cowboy, didn't do the work as he was contracted to do (we had no written contract, but the Surveyor had specified what needed to be done and how and the quote referred to "all works as detailed in the surveyor;s report). To cut a long story short, he has had two attempts to fix the roof, and has only made it worse both times, and it is now falling apart instead of renovated. We will have to completely re roof it now as its not viable to try to fix it anymore. There are other jobs that were done and also all wrong for varying reasons. We had taken legal advice, had the original surveyor in twice to assess the property and works and draw up a scotts schedule. The work he has done was considered as £0 value due to not being what was supposed to be done and shoddy work. The damages to our property soar at over £60,000, certified by both the FRICS surveyor and conservation. Including legal expenses and other fees the claim against him will be over £70,000. He has chased us with 3 debt collection companies so far, one whom sent out a Liverpool gangster to deliver a Statuatory demand against us to try to bankrupt us. I have proof of who he was, as for some reason when I explained what the builder had done to our house, he claimed to be a "surveyor" and told me he could survey the damages for us, and wrote his number and name down. When i googled him and found his image and name I found out who he really is. -none of the debt collectors have been told by him its a disputed debt. -The first debt agreed to wait until a certain date to get the scotts schedule and evidence, but before that date came around, the next was pursuing us vigorously. -The second debt collector refused to contact our solicitor despite being told to only converse via him and repeatedly texted us and phoned us saying they were going to bankrupt us. -Our solicitor tried to call them but his calls went unreturned and he had to email them to ask them to desist harrassing us and only converse via him. -Then they sent letters threatening SD against us, and when contacted AGAIN by our solicitor for continuing to ignore the direction to speak via our legal advisor, claimed they never received his "letter", (even though it was an email!) -We forced them to set aside the Statutory demand, by furnishing the evidence and he was dropped like a hot potato by the bulldog debt collectors and that was the last that we heard from anyone for approx 8 months, until we got a letter a few days ago, from yet another. -I have recording software on my phone so made sure i used it when I called this debt collection company. We haven't got the solicitor involved again as yet, as we don't want to part with yet another £500 to get rid of these guys. I had a list of qurestions which i calmly repeated: "has your client told you this is a disputed debt? -has your client told you that you are the third debt collector he has gotten on to us? -has he told you he issued a statutory demand against us which they had to set aside when the evidence was furnished -has he told you we have proof of a £70,000 AGAINST HIM? etc... She said she didn't have a record that he had told them it was a disputed debt but would get the case manager to call us back, which hasn't happened yet. -Also I'll mention the claim of monies owed started at around £15,000, and each time the amount has changed and risen and now he's claiming theres over £25,000 outstanding, which is absolute balshovic! He's just making up amounts and doesn't actually KNOW what the actual amount would have been had he done a satisfactory job. Our solicitor said should we take this to court we must be aware it will cost us at least : -£2500 filing fee with court -£10 - 15,000 of solicitor, barrister and court costs in the year it will take to get to court, and thats before the case is heard. The evidence is overwhelming and I feel we would blow him out of the water should we try the case, but our solicitor is concerned that we will get a win, but get no funds out of him as he doesn't really have company assets the tracing agent could identify, and the company has a £150,000 debt against it. ..The only upside is, he said the banks wouldn't let a builder run up such huge amounts of debt unless they had it secured against something , and we know he has a property worth at least £600,000 in his personal name, so should he not pay, we could seek a winding up order of his company, which couldn't happen until he repaid the banks , and if he didn't have the cash to pay the debt, they would force him to sell his home, so he most likely would then be forced to pay us to avoid losing his home. So we are not sure whether its worth losing yet more money trying to take him to court, but until we take him to court, how do you stop him constantly harrassing us with debt collector after debt collector? I feel he is just trying to be a nuisance and waste our money on solicitor fees endlessly as he knows he has no hope of getting any more money out of us. I called citizens advice bureau, but they said there is nothing they can do as its not a small claims case. Each time he does this, we have to answer to the debt collectors and waste more money-surely there is some way he can be stopped from doing this? He is purposely misleading debt collectors in order to get them to take his case by not disclosing the facts.

I have two questions, which I will ask after a brief explanation. I sold a house in London on the 18th of Feb last year and notified the council that there were new owners, and to bill the new occupier. I received a bill for the current tax year about two months ago. I wrote to them explaining again and asked them to confirm that it had been actioned. No reply, but another bill turned up this week. 1) What is the best way to nip this in the bud and can I threaten them with some legal recourse for harassment, when it is clearly marked on the Land Registry that it was sold on that date. 2) Whilst I did own the house in 2013, whilst doing it up for sale after a long rental period, I wrote to them and asked for a month's discount due to the month it was empty, plus the single person's discount and this obviously happened later, the fact that I was not the occupier/owner for the full year. Some how, they managed to take me to court without issuing a LBA and there was no summons from the county court, I certainly would have attended and put my quite strong case forward. The first I knew was just after we sold the house in Feb 2014, was a bailiff's demand, the county court ones, but I think they were called HCEO but the names keep changing and I know bailiffs has been replaced, but hopefully you understand what I mean. Shortly afterwards I had my stroke, spent two months in hospital and never got around to dealing with it. The bailiffs gave up, as I don't have a car at the moment, I'm well off territory living in the Midlands and I don't leave doors or windows open. It was also interesting that the court case was something like August 2013 but the bailiffs didn't write to me until Feb 2014, so probably any time limit on going back to the court had expired. I don't want to keep sending letters, and find they've managed to take me to court without an LBA or summons again, how can I make sure this doesn't happen. The only good thing, is that they can only put a charge on the actual property not other property owned by the individual (i.e. my home) also because I am still recovering, I am not in employment or on benefits, just doing a few cash in hand jobs ad hoc which doesn't even take me anywhere near my tax allowance, so they can't do an attachment of earnings.

Hi My son has previously been off school for quite bad illness and we are being harassed by educational welfare stating he is having too much time off school. We have supplied evidence of illness but they are still being pains in the backside. The last letter threatened a fine. Has anyone got a letter that will put a rocket up their backside and get them to back off? I have no problems with taking things to court if they need to get messy but i think in the first instance a letter should suffice. SFUK

Hello Can anyone please tell me if I am legally obliged to inform tv licensing that I do not need a license. I had informed them via their own website by completing the declaration form. I did this about two years ago when my tv broke and I never got it replaced. I recently had a visit from one of them and told them again that I do not have a tv and didnt let them in. I have now recieved a letter stating "We want to ensure you have the information you may need before a hearing is set at your local court". I just wondered if I am legally obliged to inform them on a regular basis that I do not need a license.

In January I had an appointment at our local hospital for back to back sigmoidoscopy and gastrosopy. Understandably I was extremely scared and when parking in a disable bay I forgot to put my blue badge up. It was the last thing on my mind. I was in the hospital from 8.30 to 11.30 and when we came out we pad the parking fee and I found I had a parking ticket from te private parking company I just ignored as a friend of mine did hen she got a parking ticket from them and after she ignored letters they seemed to drop it. I was justified in parking there as I had a blue badge which is valid until 2016 but the company have continued to harass me and I have now received a demand from a debt collection agency. I have two incurable illnesses and stress can affect my heart I have to admit that I am shocked that hospitals can allow the harassment of seriously ill people who they are supposed to be helping . The debt collection are demanding £80 which we don't have as we are upon limited income. I understand that they don't really have any legal powers ad private car parks are covered by civil law so their previous threat of a criminal record doesn't wash what do you think I should do now and what if the debt collectors arrive . The strain might quite seriously be too much for me

My son keeps getting letters and visits from TVL he did have a TV licence before but since last year he has not been watching TV he only uses his internet. They are threatening him saying he is under investigation etc, he is getting really stressed out apparently they have evidence even though they have not entered the property, what evidence could they possibly have to stat with and what can he do aout this harassment? Any advice would be appreciated. Regards Mashmallow

For 2yrs and 5months have been getting calls from SWEL and 3 DCAs trying to recover circa £1200. for some sort of service to a property in Portsmouth. Tracing by SWEL, EOS Solutions UK Plc, UK Search Ltd, and Ruthbridge Ltd. My wife was unlucky to marry into the same Mrs Firstname Lastname as a Miss Firstname Lastname (I believe a widow) and from what I can deduce same DoB. SWEL was notified by email and replied that they would remove our address from the account. There should therefore have been no need to respond when DCAs sent bills, as SWEL will have provided them with correct information wouldnt they? Lol. A month trial of Experian in 2013 showed no alias information on credit report so that was not worth the paper it was written on. My telephone number is listed in my name and whilst I don't answer witheld CLI calls, nor unrecognised callers; the calls are still logged and made available by my provider. The typical behaviour is to call weekdays and Saturday mornings witheldCLI chain dialed up to about 35 calls in a day, plus 1 or 2 calls with a false CLI number such as '678965' or '0000000000' which surprisingly weren't answered or went to voicemail with or without message. The harrassement therefore also creates the extra work collecting the logs, and any voicemails together. The DCAs send out letters and bills threatening to send someone to visit, but sadly they never seem to get around to any action that could have counterclaim. FOI Information from SWEL reveals that SWEL do not check customers identity prior to providing credit for services. This means that they do not actually know which firstname lastname was provided with services. The question therefore arises why pay their bill if you are moving anyway. I spent half a day in 2013 tracing the actual debtor. This took a little time but was quite easy; and I would be prepared to sell the information for decent fee. It became clear that the tracing done on behalf of SWEL amounts to nothing more than searching the CRA databases. In view of the above I am looking to blacklist the calling numbers but there are difficulties - not least is that their numbers benefit from the privacy settings of CLI system which rightly protects the x-directory numbers of individuals; but these companies and Telemarketers should forfeit by the nature of what they are doing. Using Asterisk software, - "If there is no Caller ID received, then the LookupBlacklist has no effect." and to blacklist a false number would be to little avail as the target is moving. Calls having witheld CLI can be normally rejected. We need laws against the presentation of false CLI numbers. We need to allow access to phone numbers used by DCAs and Telemarketers, and Telesurvey companies. We need to be able to communicate with the CRAs without fear of providing ANY information which might be used to add to their collected database. We need legislation that DCA bills or threats MUST be followed up by court action within 1 month or be withdrawn. == Oz

Hello, I signed up for a years membership with Xercise4Less Leeds branch in October 2013. After the full year had passed, I emailed X4L querying what the cancellation process was I had moved out of the area and did not wish to continue my membership. I received an email back stating that I must fill out a form and send it to them, either by post or email. I did so and sent it back to them, I asked them for confirmation of receipt however no one replied to me. I waited a month before cancelling my direct debits. Since January 15 I have been receiving numerous calls a day, and have been sent many letters from ZINC collections. I have left voicemails / emails however I am just going in roundabouts trying to explain my situation. ZINC are demanding me to pay £126.49 that I supposedly owe. I paid every month of my contract and believe I cancelled it correctly. What would you advise me to do? I have copies of all emails sent, and bank statements showing the money left my account each month. I am worried that this collection notice is going to affect my credit rating in the future, will it? Regards mn11aah

im writing this on behalf of my sister shes a tenant in a shared accomadtion (Live out landllord) about to leave after numerous disputes with LL she took over the broadband/tv pacakge when another tenant left- i did tell her not to but the LL at the time assured her his agreement that she could deduct from the rent a new cotract was set up with virgin which the LL agreed t back in november 14, and everything was fine she deducted it from her monthly rent and he didnt have any problems with it come to last month she gives her required 1 month notice to leave and he starts hassling her about when prospective tenants can come and view the room-she said is it ok to do it just in the evenings as shes at work he said no i want them to come when i want she refused this as not being reasonable and he starts hassling her saying its his house he can do what he likes when he likes he also starts bringing up the payments to virgin stating it sounds too much and why is it 40 pounds a month even though he agreed to this he says hes going to take it out of the deposit as its too much- she has never had a confirmation that the deposit was sent to a protection scheme nor even a proper contract as ive just found out just an email stating how much rent is deposit and how much notice to give so on two points has he got any comback for her not "paying full rent" even though he agreed to the broadband contract and second does the fact is not in a protection scheme supercede all that thanks for any help

I am a private house hold and have an ex-directory private landlines telephone with BT. I am 64 years of age with health problems. I do not run a business from home and this telephone number has been with me since 1966. On the night of the 24th October I started to get telephone calls from mid-night onwards which got picked up by the answer machine that I have no sooner the answer machine started the calls were cut off after giving a fax signal and then the process was repeated again up to seven or eight times call after call then after a twenty minute break it started again. This was kept up all night long. When I dialed 1471 to find out who it was it said caller withheld the number. However, after five days and nights of this nightmare harassment, I managed to get the two telephone numbers that the calls were made from. They are 01 452 378 483 and also from 01202 406 090. I contacted BT and asked them to check these two numbers as I did not want to dial myself in case they were some soft of international [problem]. They told me the numbers were for Barclays bank and it was Barclay's bank that were making these endless harassment calls to my number. I then called the first number and I wast old by a very rude Indian man that it was Barclay's Call center in New Deli and that I was placed on what he called a Hit List. and he told me that I can not be removed from the Hit List. I then had to make seval calls to Barclay bank to be told on several occassions after being given a complaint number that they will look into the matter which takes three days and mean while I will just have to put up with whatever they dish out such as these calls all night long. I had five days of this from the 24th until the 28th October all night and all day. I was not able to use the telephone most of the time as they also managed to block the line making it unusable each time they made a series of these calls as the phone line would go dead for a while. I am ill with Ostio Arthurits plus heart problems as I had a heart attack last year due to stress and this was the last thing I needed as I also had lost my elderly aunt who passed away at the end of August. I have now been told that Barclays have put a stop to the calls however, I had a further two days of calls on the 13th and 14th of November when it started up again after being told that they had taken me off the list. Barclays have just contacted me and made me an offer of Fifty Pounds which I refused for all this harassment they then made an offer of Two Hundred pounds which happens to be twenty pounds per night and twenty pounds per day for all this aggression. I have told them I will not accept that sum of money and I will now taken this further to the Ombudsman. I find Barclays the most outrageous, and ruthless bank that could not care a dam for their customers and I hope that this helps any one that reads it to stay away from Barclays as they are the most rude and unhelpful bank I have ever encountered. When asked a very simple question to why did they do this to me they said that they have no answer to this question and they were really not concerned about health situation.

Hi Everyone, I recently finished the tenancy at a property and as per the norm agreed to a checkout at the end before handing over the keys. The checkout lady arrived on time. Before starting she made a call to the landlord (as had been requested to her before by him) and I overheard parts of the conversation. she said " yes cleaning has been done professionally as per receipts but not by the cleaners as suggested from the estate agency". Next she started her inventory check eventually taking 5 hours to do the whole check. She went over each point, one by one and went to the extent of running her hand over the backs of the pelmets/curtains to check for dust !! All this time my wife and I had to hover around, because she seemed to sometimes note down things which were even already said to be defective/faulty. Well due to her diligence, she made some additional 10 or so entries. Is it normal for a checkout to last 5 hours for a 4 bedroom property???

My Friend has found themselves in a large spot of bother and I decided to try a post here for some advice of what can be done to help him out. He is being seriously harassed and rather embarrassed by an Italian National who is 'hiding' in Italy. From what I understand, my friend runs a Computer Game Server where this Italian Gent got himself banned for reasons that don't concern or interest me (and that I don't actually know either). What I do know is that this chap keeps posting my friends personal details into the public domain without his consent. Repeated attempts to Ban Evade his gaming server. However last night was the final straw. He was woken up at 02:45 to find Dominos Pizza at his door with £130 worth of Food which he hadn't ordered or paid for. They were less than impressed. My continued concern is that this will get much more serious with something like Identity Fraud. If this guy will send pizzas at nearly 3AM to the tune of £130.00 I fear this is only the beginning. I have told my friend he should now involve the Police immediately. There are several ongoing issues including email harassment etc. I would be lying if I said I thought Debt Collectors were still worse at it. But with the person responsible outside of UK Jurisdiction, is there some from of European Harassment Order that can be placed on this chap to cease and desist immediately? I have suggested he speaks to the CAB, but in the West Country they aren't exactly that helpful. Has anyone been in this situation or knows where I could seek advice for him. He just wants it to stop and the :evil: is not relenting by any stretch of the imagination! Thanks all

A couple of weeks ago, I received a message on my home number from MMF saying that I needed to contact them urgently regarding arranging a home visit. My partner rang them to say they had the wrong number and not to call again. Nothing since. Today, I got called into the office at work because they had left an automated message at work for me!! We have rung again and told them to take that number off their system. MMF did buy an old payday loan debt I had but I paid that and it is showing as paid and cleared on my credit file. It is possible that they've bought another debt off someone like Lowells but I have no knowledge of this if so. They have not written to me or emailed me on the matter so I am in the dark. What should I do? Should I call to see why they're trying to contact me? Should I write and tell them to write to me if they want to correspond? I don't like speaking to DCA's but it's embarrassing to have them call me at work.

I think it would be sensible to start from the beginning.. My partner purchased some items 18 months ago from PC World (Creation Finance) on a buy now pay later 6 months deal. When the 6 months arose and we had to pay the interest was sky high which we knew it would be of not settling the account after the terms. We paid a few months, but due to myself falling out of work due to illness and my partner who owes the debt could not make ends meet we stupidly stopped paying the account. We did inform Creation that we were experiencing financial difficulties, but they only wanted the payments and was not interested in our current hardship. With letters and emails back and fourth for almost 14 months trying to come up with an agreement of paying monthly on what we could afford, it was eventually sent over to a company call WMD. Now since December of 2013 we have written to WMD and also spoke to them on the phone regarding a £35 a month settlement which we were advised to offer which was 2% of the outstanding balance. We never heard anything from WMD until most recently, well in fact last week, when a representative of WMD called and we agreed that we pay £35 a month on the last day of April as our first month, we would pay this for the next 4 months and when the balance had dropped we would request a settlement in full payment which in the next four months we could offer. We had to go to the Philippines last month due to a bereavement in the family, which took all our savings for the flights and having to pay the funeral costs, we told Creation this in writing by email of the issue. Since last Wednesday we have been getting nearly three calls a day from WMD after we had already arranged a payment, and have offered to send them a full outgoings and incoming schedule on my partners account. It is now getting terrible stressful for my partner having to deal with these unkind people on the phone, she is having a tough time with her mothers death. these people are making her life hell, we really do not know how to stop them calling as we have been advised to deal through correspondence only, but they have our number and my partner is wanting to stop all this and pay the monthly installments as she said she would. All help would be really appreciated. Darren

I think it would be sensible to start from the beginning.. My partner purchased some items 18 months ago from PC World (Creation Finance) on a buy now pay later 6 months deal. When the 6 months arose and we had to pay the interesticon was sky high which we knew it would be of not settling the account after the terms. We paid a few months, but due to myself falling out of work due to illness and my partner who owes the debt could not make ends meet we stupidly stopped paying the account. We did inform Creation that we were experiencing financial difficulties, but they only wanted the payments and was not interested in our current hardship. With letters and emails back and fourth for almost 14 months trying to come up with an agreement of paying monthly on what we could afford, it was eventually sent over to a company call WMD. Now since December of 2013 we have written to WMD and also spoke to them on the phone regarding a £35 a month settlement which we were advised to offer which was 2% of the outstanding balance. We never heard anything from WMD until most recently, well in fact last week, when a representative of WMD called and we agreed that we pay £35 a month on the last day of April as our first month, we would pay this for the next 4 months and when the balance had dropped we would request a settlement in full payment which in the next four months we could offer. We had to go to the Philippines last month due to a bereavement in the family, which took all our savings for the flightsicon and having to pay the funeralicon costs, we told Creation this in writing by email of the issue. Since last Wednesday we have been getting nearly three calls a day from WMD after we had already arranged a payment, and have offered to send them a full outgoings and incoming schedule on my partners account. It is now getting terrible stressful for my partner having to deal with these unkind people on the phone, she is having a tough time with her mothers death. these people are making her life hell, we really do not know how to stop them calling as we have been advised to deal through correspondence only, but they have our number and my partner is wanting to stop all this and pay the monthly installments as she said she would. All help would be really appreciated. Darren

Hi, I am hoping for a little advice if any. I have currently been signed off sick by my GP since October 2013. To cut a long story short i was off 2 years previously with neck and back pain, i work in a call centre and after numerous visits to physio and an MRI i was diagnosed with cervical spondylosis and from C3 -C7 my discs were totally worn. After 5 months absence i returned to work but cut my hours down from 37.5 to 25 per week. Since returning ive constantly complained of being made to sit for long periods of time ( OH and the works private GP) had both put in reports that i must have time away from desk as sitting aggravates the nerves, anyway ive persevered with the pain for 2 years until it got so bad i couldnt move or get up for work. So to date, ive seen a muscular skeletal specialist in december who was quite concerned that the pain was now in multiple joints and sent me for blood tests for rheumatoid arthritis but due to her being involved in a car accident i had 2 appointments cancelled last month and i am finally seeing her this week for the result and what the next steps are for treatment for me. My point is which i need help with, i am constantly getting phone calls from work, sometimes 5 times a week asking if im better, when will i be back etc. These are questions i do not have answers to. I have attended monthly welfare meetings and have had a 1st formal notification in january 2014. They have again contacted me (4 times in 2 days) saying they want me in for weekly welfare meetings. Now due to constant pain even with medication and public transport taking 1 1/2 hours to get there i am finding it is making my condition worse and told them this and that i was unable to go in weekly but was happy for them to visit my home to conduct these. Basically i was told on this occasion they would but after that i have to make my own way there and back ( we are also moving to new premises further away which will result in it taking me 2 1/2 hours to get there) . What i would like to know is 1) Is it right to make me attend a weekly welfare meeting and 2) is repeated unnecessary calls legal. I am really starting to feel stressed everytime the phone rings and more so afterwards as the conversation and demands play around in my mind. I have spoke with ACAS who said i can request home visits in which i have done and also complain about the call volume. I spoke with HR today who basically said try sort it with your manager, then ops manager ( both of whom are ringing me constantly) next step write a letter to the service manager of the department which i will be doing today but i really feel like im wasting my time as ive worked for this company almost 7 years and seen the same thing happen to collegues who have eventually left the job or been dismissed . Sorry this post is long, i have tried to list as much as i could to give a clear picture.

Getting increasingly frustrated by the non stop calls from AK. Debt from about 15 plus years ago. AK were writing about once every couple of months in the last year or two, asking for my repayment proposal. I had been ignoring them, but decided to end it once and for all by requesting a copy of the CCA. Letter received from them acknowledging that no CCA could be found. I can't remember the exact wording (letter not to hand) but it was along the lines that no further action would be taken. This was a good 6 months ago. Out of the blue I have started to receive calls from them. Several each day. Today I received 4. All of which either hung up when I answered or rang off after 2/3 rings. Its pretty annoying to say the least. I called them back today and requested that they stop calling as they are unable to prove the debt due to no CCA and that they were harrassing me. Girl agreed to remove my number . 1.5 hours later I get another call (they hung up). 2 hours later I get another call. I 'm really p*ssed off now. What can I do please?

Hello Friends, I have had a recent bad experience with council. I had some overdue council tax, which I cleared upon being brought to attention, back in November. However by then the council had passed on my name to a debt collection agency. I explicitly asked them to inform the debt-collection agency that I have cleared the payment and there is no outstanding any more. Due to council's negligence, my name was not moved and the debt collection agency continued to send their threatening letters. It was so scary for me and my wife to read the letter. I had to call the council again and they admitted that they had made a mistake and then they finally removed my name. Now my question is whether I can claim compensation as redressal for all the harassment and stress that I had to go through due to councils act. I really don't want the council to just get away with an apology. Please advise me on this. Thanks